Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1887-05-13
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1.HiStorSr' Of: Hd7eNture
By J. RIDER HAGGARD.
CHAPTER V.

CHAPTER V.
THE HEAD OF THE ETHIOPIAN.
At length the heralds and forerunners Of
the royal sun had done their work, and,
searching out the shadows, had caused them
TO flee away. Then up he came in glory from
his ocean bed and flooded the earth with
warmth and light I sat there in the boat
and listened to thegentle tapping of the water
and watched him rise, till presently the slight
drift of the boat brought the odd shaped rock
or peak at the end Of the promontory, which
we had weathered with so much peril, be-
tween me and the majestic sight and blotted
IL from my view. Istill continued TO stare at
$40 rock, however, abssntly enough, till pres
emily it became edged with the fire Of the
glowing light behind it, anu then started,
as well might, for l perceived that the top
of the peak, which was about eighty feet
high by $50 thick at its base, was shaped like
q Negroes head and face, on which was stamped
a most flendish and terrifying expression.
There was no doubt about it; there were the
thick lips, tho fat cheeks and the squat nose
standing out with startling clearness against
the flaming background. There, too, was the
round skull, washed into shape perhaps by
thousands of years Of wind and weather, and,
to complete tho resemblance, there was
scrubby growth of weeds or lichen upon 1t,
which against thesun looked for all the world
like the wool on colossal Negroes head, 1t
certainly was very odd-so odd that now
believe that it is not a mere freak Of nature,
but n gigantic monument, fashioned, like the
well known Egyptian Sphinx, by a forgotten
people out of a pile OF rock that lent itself to
their design, perhaps as an emblem Of warn
ing and defiance to any enemies who mp
preached the harbor Unfortunately wo
were never able to ascertain whether or not
this was the case, inasmuch as the rock was
difficult Of aecess both from tho land and tho
water side, and we had other things to attend
10. Myself, considering the matter by the
light of what we afterward saw, l believe it
wns fashioned by man, but whether or not
this is so, there it stands, and sullenly stares
from age to age out across the changing sea I;
there it stood 1900 years and moro
ago, when Amenartas, the Egyptian princess,
and the wife of Leo's remote ancestor Kali
klntes gazed upon its devilish face and there
have no doubt it will stand when us many
centuries as are numbered between her day
and our own are added TO the year that bore
us TO oblivion.
"What do you think of that, Job ~ l asked
of our retainer, who was sitting on the
edge of the boat, trying to get as much sun
shine as possible, and generally looking un-
commonly wretched, and | pointed to the
fiery, demonincal head.
ooh, Lord. sir" answered job, who now
perceived the object for the first time, II
think that the old gentleman must have been
sitting for his portrait on them roel1sn
laughed, and the laugh woke up Leo
"Hello," he said "whats the matter with
met / am all stiR. Whore is the dhowp
"You may be thankful that you are not
sitter, my boy" answered. "The dhow is
sunk, and everybody on board her is drowned,
with the exception of us four, and your own
lfo was only saved by miracle,n and while
job, now that it was light enough, searched
nbout in locker for the brandy, for which
leo asked, 1 told him the history Of our
nights adventure.
"Great heavensH he said, family; aand to
think that we should have been chosen TO
live through it'll"
By this time the brandy was Forthcoming,
and we all had good pull at 1t, and thankful
enough we were for it. Also the sun was be-
ginning to getstrength and warmed our chilled
bones, for we had been wet through for five
hours or more.
"Why," said Leo, with gasp, as he put
down the brandy bottle, 'there is the head
the writing talks of-'the rock shaped like tho
head of an Ethiopian
"Yes,n said, "there 1t isl
'Well, then" he answered, "the whole thing
IS true"
II don't at all sec that that follows, an.
swered. ave knew this head was here; your
father saw it. Very likely It Is not the same
head that the writing talks of, or if 1t is, it
proves nothing"
Leo smiled at me in a superior way. "You
ore an unbelleving Jew, Uncle Horace he
said. "Those who live will see."
Exactly So" answered; aand now per.
hnps you observe that we arc drifting across
n sand bank into the mouth Of the river Get
hold of your oar, Job, and we will rev in and
see If we can't find place to land.'
The river mouth which we were entering
did not appear to he very wide one, though
MS yet the long banks Of steaming mist that
chung about its shores had not liftedsufiicient-
ly 10 enable us to see its exact width. There
was, as is the case with nearly every east
African river, considerable bar at the
mouth, which, no doubt, when the wind Is
of shore and the tide running out, was abso
lutely impossible even for q boat drawing
only a few inches But as things were it was
manageable enough, and We did not ship O
cupful of water. In twenty minutes we were
well across 1t, with but slight assistance from
ourselves, and being carried by a strong
though somewhat variable breeze well up the
harbor. By this time the mist WINS being
sucked up 10y the sun, which was getting un.
comfortably hot. and we saw that the mouth
OF the little estuary WINS here about half a
mile across, and that tho banks were
very marShy, crowded with croco-
diles lying alb a the mud like logs.
About mile ,.head of us, however,
was what appeared TO be a strip OF
firm land, and for this we steered. In nm
other quarter Of an hour We were there, and
making the boat fast TO a beautiful tree with
broad shining leaves, and flowers of the mag
nolia species, only. they were rose colored and
not white, which hung over the water, wa
disemhaiked. This done, we undressed,
washed ourselves, and spread our clothes and
the contents Of the boat in the sun to dry,
which they quickly did, and then taking shell.
ter from tho sun under some trees, we made a
hearty breakfast Off "PaysanduH ported
tongue, of which we had brought good guam
THY with us from the army and navy stores,
congratulating ourselves enormously ON our
good fortune in having loaded and proysioned
the boat on the previous day before the hur-
ricane destroyed the dhow. BY the time that
we had finished our meal our clothes were
dry, and we hastened TO get into them, feel
ing not little refreshed. Indeed, with tho
exception Of WEAKNESS and few bruises,
mono of us were the worse for our ierrify iiiv
adventure, which had been fatal 10 all our
companions Leo, it is true, had been half
drowned, but that is no great matter 10 a
vigorous young athlete of Internationally.
After breakfast we started to look about
us. We were ON a strip Of dry land about
200 yards broad by 800 long, bordered ON ono
side by the river and on the other three by
endless, dosolate swamps, that stretched as far
rs the eye could reach. This strip Of land
was raised about twenty-five feet above the
i,yel Of tho surrounding swamps and the